The Path of Shadows
by Asrael Shannara
Summary: The story of Wren, an elf assassin looking for vengeance as he treads the roads of Azeroth Kalimdor and Outland, pledging his services to the Titans, Medivh, the Litch King and Illidan. Read and Review please.
1. Chapter 1

"My name is Wren Ilim Shaddar. But my name means little in these forsaken parts. I know not where I am. Do I really care? I guess not. I am a shadow walker as my name suggests. There is one thing that keeps me going. Vengeance.

"On who? The one that wrecked my soul. No, I am not of the undead, scourge, forsaken , or whatever they call themselves. Many would claim I am lifeless. You would be to if you went through what I went.

"Should I tell you my tale? Am I going to put the shadow of my soul into your heart? For me, it makes little difference now. As I raise my blighted eyes to gaze upon the horizon against the hard cold wind that sweeps this mountain side filled with snow by the ongoing blizzard, I can't help remembering the months I spent in Northrend . The same bitter cold, the same isolation and despair that creeps from every side. Although I am many miles away from that land chasing legends and ghost of the past I can still hear the voice of my last mentor echo in my head. The chilling sound of the Lich King's thoughts. . .

"Alas, I departed about three month ago from that wretched place. My path lies on a different line than that of the Scourge. Am I wrong again? Should I have stayed and learned more, pledged forever in the service of the lich King Ner-Zhul? I made so many mistakes…

"But this is not were my story begins. Let me take you back to a simpler time in my life.

"Two years ago I was still with my people, my tribe. I was born to the dark elfs, a tribe derived from the high elfs long ago when they settled in Quel'Thalas. My people took residence in Gilneas on the southern tip of the peninsula. We lived in shadow and secrecy and thus named ourselves the Dark Elfs. Our great skill? Mercenaries, thieves, assassins for the highest bidder. Far from our noble brethren. We lived a simpler life. Wars bothered us little as there were more jobs. Into this world I was born and raised to become an assassin like my father before me.

"I was just a boy when my father left home for good. I remember that day, when I was still innocent, and as I look back on it with all that I now know, I think that my father was a fool. It rained all week and my family stayed indoors with my father taking occasional trips to the local tavern for news and gossip, possibly rumors of a job. He left in the afternoon as always, only to return later that evening accompanied by a strange man.

"The man was covered in a long leather hooded cape, with metal shoulder armor on top. All he carried was a staff topped by a bird sculpture. As they entered our house the man dropped his hood and smiled as he saw me, a youngster of 16. My father whispered something to my mother that made her face turn to stiff and then to fear. She quickly put on a smile as she invited the old man at our table. The man introduced himself as Medivh, and that alone should have told my father to stay away. To me it meant little. It was a name I barely remembered from boys who ease dropped on their fathers who told tales upon returning from a job. So t me he was just a man.

"My parents on the other hand knew all to well who he was. My mother took me to my room and told me to stay put, while my father discussed with the traveler. I though nothing of it at the time seeing as that was the way any job was acquired around these parts. An hour passed until my mother called me out, and I could see that she had been crying.

"My father was dressed for the road. He packed all of his gear and was leaving for another job. He would be back in a couple of months, I thought. But I was wrong. Something in the way he hugged me that last time told me this was different. My mother cried for a week afterwards, barely talking to me. And so my father left with Medivh. The elf that walked out that door was lost to me forever that day. I never saw him again.

"I should feel some sadness, some sorrow, for because of that my mother died three years after that day. But my soul is empty. I feel nothing save a scrape of anger at the one who did this."

"_Why do you forsake all life Wren? There is nothing to find in these land except suffering"_

"That voice. . . The voice of my second mentor, the cause of all this. In his claims of compassion lays nothing but puppet strings.

"_I am, as before your creation, you bastard. You speak of life ? Look at what you have brought into this world. You failed! You failed with my father, you failed with me, and you failed with my kind! I choose my own path. No more of your manipulations. Return to the Nether from which you came, and torment me no more. Have you not done enough?"_

"He hounds me day and night, try to find redemption for the mistakes he has made. But now is not the time to tell you about he. My body shivers at the cold as I instinctually tighten my cape around my body.

"I grew up and became an assassin like my father before me. When my mother died I left home and wandered Lordaeron for some years working in my trade. A loner, a professional. The second coming of the legion was all done with by the time my father left home for the last time. I found myself slay humans and orcs and undead with ease. I perfected my skills traveling from kingdom to kingdom. All this time I was searching for any information about my father. All clues end up to be dead ends.

"One night I decided to camp at a local tavern in a land in southern Azeroth. It was a cold day, overcast with signs of a storm brewing somewhere in the distance. I had just finished a job and with gold in my pocket I deserved a rest. I took a seat at a lonely table in the shadows away from the drunken crowd ordering a hot meal and some wine. Near the fireplace at the opposite end of the room knights were pouring ale down their throats making a lot of noise. Away from them, at another table was an orc and an elf archer going over a map laid out between them. That I thought was strange, but following the war nothing really surprised me anymore. And close to the door a man stood alone at a table apart from the drunken knights.

"Nothing really different from any other tavern in the south. That was until he walked in.

"A ghost from my past, the man I never thought I would see again. With him came the cold wet wind that was now blowing outside. No one seamed to take notice of him. In his familiar leather hood and cape leaning on his staff he came straight towards me. Underneath the table I armed my small pistol crossbow ready to shoot this man if he tried anything.

"He stopped in front of me. He clutched his staff with both hands, leaning on it a little."

"_I know you Wren!"_

"_I know you as well, human" _

"_Human, I would hardly consider my self human anymore." _ And he sat down. "_And that weapon of yours will do nothing to me."_

"_So I gathered from the tales I heard. I should have strangled you the day you came into my house"_ I laid my weapon down. _"You said once that you wanted to take your place among the legends of the past. Why did you come back?"_

"_I was called back. Just like I am called now to you."_

"I gazed into his eyes, cold and sparkling with the light of the Nether. This was the one…creature, that could tell me of my father.

"_What happened to my father?"_

"He smiled lowering his gaze:

"_That is a matter that you will discuss with my master."_

"_You are too sure of yourself. I am not my father. For what reason should I listen to you? You took my father away and that killed my mother!"_ anger was boiling inside of me"

"_But you are your father's son. Wren, your father left for a worthy cause. . . "_

"_No cause is worth enough to take a father from his family" _I was yelling and found myself standing up leaning towards the old man.

"The human at the table near the door was staring at us. I glanced at the odd pair behind me, the orc and elf, who were clearly more interested in me and Medivh than in their map. I sat down. My rash actions were attracting to much attention. Luckily the knight were too drunk to notice."

"_Come with me Wren and you will learn of your father's cause. I can teach you what your race should know, come with me Wren and learn of your destiny!"_

"_Were those the same words you told my father, filled his head with notions of glory and valor that he left his family behind for you?"_ my jaws were clenched in rage.

"_Your father came with me to save this world, and that is what I ask of you now, to complete your father's work. There is no glory, valor maybe found in one's heart. But I do not want your courage or your sense of right. All I require is your skills as a thief and assassin. I want to hire you !"_

"Why I accepted to come with him I will never now. I did not need the gold. I probably wanted a chance to find my father. I did not leave right away. I wanted to finish my meal and have a good night sleep. And so he left only to return next morning. Little did I know that I would not be alone in my journey with Medivh.

"I feel my body tiring, I haven't slept in over a month. Perhaps in this blizzard I can rest. I drop in the snow and curl pulling my hooded cape around my body. Just like the wretched undead I feel good in that cold. It gives me comfort. I close my eyes and listen to the howling wind that drives the snow around my figure covering me in a white frozen blanket.


	2. Chapter 2

„I awoke to the sound of stillness. I tried to move my hands and legs but could not. Then I remembered. I fell asleep in the middle of a blizzard. I must be under several feet of snow. As such I tightened my muscles and focused on my inner self. In a blue soundless flash the snow on top of me blew to the sides leaving my body at the middle of a small crater. I heard the snow fall to the ground in muffled lumps. I opened my eyes.

"The light hurt my pupils. I shut my lids and with one arm I pushed my stiffed body up from the frozen ground. I stretched high into the air and yawned with all my might opening my eyes again. It was better now. I glanced around. The mountain was covered in white glistening snow. It was still. The wind stopped blowing. I lowered my hood. If you should see me, or any dark elf, for that matter, you would firs be struck by the whiteness of our complection. Our skin has a shimmery pearl tone to it and our hair is like spider web strings. There is no rule for our eye color, but mine are pale blue.

"But enough of my looks, I'm not to proud of them anyway. Where did I leave you before I fell into slumber? When my father left, when my mother died? Oh no, I remember. You will forgive me, for my forgetfulness. As you will learn later on, I had a troubled life. I left you at my meeting with Medivh.

"The main reason for accepting the wizard's offer was because I wanted to know what had happened to my father. And walk into his footsteps somewhat. I went to bed under the pretext of being tired and that I will give Medivh an answer in the morning. In my small room which I rented above the tavern there was a small wooden bed and a curtain covered window. I tried to sleep but it was in vain. I kept thinking about my father and where he had gone those years ago.

"Through the darkness of the room I heard a muffled creek. I stiffened. My acute hearing could barely make out the silent foot steps coming towards me. I resumed my normal breathing pretending to be sleeping deeply. All my gear was at the foot of the bed. All I had was a long needle covered in a temporary paralyzing poison.

"The question was, who was coming towards me. I doubted it was Medivh. Form what I heard about him from my travels he didn't need to walk he could materialize wherever he wanted. Plus he had no real reason.

"I knew that I wasn't followed by anyone from my last job….That left the ones that were in the tavern that night. Was it the human at the table near the door?

"Just at that moment a broad heavy paw grabbed on to my face. It pushed my face deep into the bed.

"_If you try anything, I assure you, in the next second your head will be a bloody pulp." _said a female voice as the door closed quickly. Now I knew who it was. And on my face was no paw. I opened my eyes and glanced into the darkness beyond the sausage like fingers that held me in place.

"I looked around the room and saw who it was that immobilized my head. A great beast of an orc with one knee on my bed and his right hand on my face. In the other he held a double bladed battle axe ready to strike any part of my body should I move. What I couldn't see was the female elf that just spoke.

"_That's a good boy. Now, if you are wondering, we don't mean to kill you. You have nothing that we want,. . . yet. We saw you talking to the old man. Interesting that he does not stay dead" _she said as she gently walked into my field of view. Now, with my excellent night vision I could see my assailant. She was a beautiful high elf ranger, and probably a blood elf mage as well. Her cape draped around her slender figure revealing nothing of what she hid underneath. She drew back her hood with a leather encased arm. Her blonde hair flowed down in waves and her luminous green eyes fixed me as if they were trying to probe my mind.

"_It must be important that he came and saw you. We heard that you are about to steel a great powerful treasure. If it that important for Medivh it might be worth more to us. I was thinking of a partnership…seeing as we are all of the same . . . training so to speak" _she spoke as she turned around to walk slowly to the other end of the room.

"Thieves. So that is what they were. Mere thieves trying to get their hands on some other treasure or artifact. I doubt that they knew what I was exactly. The dark elfs lived in seclusion and we did our jobs subtlety. But she had made one mistake. She turned her back to me.

"My hand moved easily and without detection between the sheets with the needle held loosely. I aimed for the orc's heart. Just like in my childhood training exercises I lunged the poisonous thread in the beast's chest before he even noticed. He made no noise, but I felt his grip loosen on my face enough to let me slip quickly out of the bed and across the room grabbing the blood elf by the neck and the other across her flat belly. She froze. My fingers drove deep into her throat. If I pushed any further she would choke and die.

"I heard the orc's axe drop from his hand, and bounce of the bed and onto the wooden floor with a loud metallic ring. The beast's body came crushing limp on the sheets.

"_Now, blood elf, it is I who make the propositions. First, you be quiet and I won't snap your neck. Secondly a doubt that we have the same training. Tell me, did you follow me here, or Medivh?"_

"I loosened my grip enough to let her whisper out a few words:

"_Neither. We just came in to rest when we saw Medivh talking to you. What are you?"_

"_I am of the dark elf, but you probably never heard out our kind. We are some how related. Now, what should I do with you?"_

"At that moment the door blew off its hinges and in a flash of orange light a man walked into my room. I tightened my grip on the blood elf's neck. She stood still.

"The man walked in caring a smoking staff. His robes clung around his body held with leather straps that had fading luminous runes etched into them. Clearly a mage. His stern face covered by a stubble and a goat like beard had a rough skin from long exposure to the elements.

"_You, male elf, you spoke with Medivh, you will take me to him immediately or I will leave your ashes on this floor !" _his voice boomed like a hundred war drums.

"_Is my room a place of fools gathering. Take a look at that orc on the bed and maybe you will change your thoughts."_

"_You compare me to that foul beast? I am a battle mage! You will not kill me as easily as you did that brute." _He said as he began walking forward.

"_Help me, she elf, and I will in turn help you. The orc is merely paralyzed for some time, look he still breaths"_ I whispered ever so softly into her ear.

" She quickly formed a green orb in her hand and launched a swift lightning bolt at the mage's head knocking him to the ground. He dropped his staff and was now on all four. I let the elf go. She looked at me as she departed towards the wall opposite the window. I went to collect my gear at the foot of the bed.

"_Now I think it's time we get to know each other. . . "_


End file.
